~ Adventures of a 20-year bonsai beginner

Monthly Archives: February 2017

I’ve had this San Jose Juniper for nearly a year now. I acquired it as bonsai material (as opposed to home and garden nursery stock) and did some initial branch positioning late last summer. It’s strong and healthy, and in need of a better soil mix so I will get it out of this nursery pot and into something more fitting.

There were a couple of design adjustments I decided to make now as well. It didn’t take long after that first wiring for the wire to start biting in, so it was removed in the fall and some of the branches have crept upwards since then. Most adjustments can wait, but I did decide to go ahead and re-wire the apex and upper left branch to get them back down where they belong.

I also removed the lowest branch on the left, as I have been planning to do, and used guy wires to pull two back branches into that space. This may seem like a lot of moving at the same time as a repot, but at only 13 or 14 inches tall, this tree’s branches are quite flexible and shiuld be able to recover well.

This arborvitae was dug up and discarded at the curb when I found it in 2015. I brought it home and put it in the ground, mostly because I didn’t have a big enough pot or enough soil on hand.
In this photo, it is 48 inches, my tallest tree by far, but it was seven feet tall when I found it. During the 2016 growing season I periodically removed branches to reduce it with hopes that I was keeping it sufficiently strong by not removing too many at once. I was encouraged that it responded by back budding even from the thicker trunks.

Today, I lifted it, put it in this plastic training tray, and did some initial styling. This variety wants to grow straight up, so I wired down the long branches you see close to the base to allow light to get to the trunk without removing more leaves than I had to. I am hoping to encourage back budding and allow the plant to fill in before trying to shorten or remove any of these.

If all goes well it could become a triple trunk arrangement that suggests a huge, redwood-like forest with lots of deadwood. Maybe something like this:

Spent some time today removing trees from their winter storage places, and found this Vicary Privet with swelling buds (along with evergreen leaves).

I collected this privet in 2015 and made the sloppy cuts you see. It was placed too deep in a large nursery pot that didn’t allow me to get a good look at the trunk structure. Today, I moved it to this training box and trimmed it down (12-16 inches) to what you see here. This should allow me access to make some decisions, some cleaner cuts, and perhaps even do some carving this year.

It will be a long term project, but the large base offers some great potential.

This past weekend I checked the trees on my winter storage shelves to find a couple of Autumn Olive, Elaeagnus umbellata, pushing new leaves… It was February 12!

We have had a mild winter here in Virginia, and I don’t think these guys need much in the way of chilling hours.
This little shohin size tree is one I have played with since 2012 in an effort to get to know the growth habits of the species. I had it in an earthenware pot, so no surprise (or big deal) that I found the pot had broken. It’s due for root pruning as well, so I decided to do the work now before the leaves came in even further.

Here it is with a new pot, a new planting angle, and just a bit of trimming.